Long's Paint & Auto Body shop celebrates 30 years

September 4, 2013

Elvis and Mary Lou Long and Long's Paint & Body Shop celebrated their 30 anniversary last month. Elvis has been a resident of Matlacha/Pine Island since he was a small child.

"I came here when I was 3 years old with my mother and six brothers and sisters," he said. "My mother opened a little shell shop in 1970. She did pretty good raising us kids off that little shop."

"I started working when I was young," he continued. "I think I was about 8 years old when I started mowing yards and then I worked in a little grocery store and also at my mother's shell shop after school. I saved up enough money to buy a '69 Corvette. I was the only 16 year-old with a Corvette."

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Long’s Paint & Auto Body is owned by Elivs and Mary Lou Long, and operated with the help of their sons, Kenny and Klayton.

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He went on to say, "I guess I was about 16 when I started working on cars and then went to vocational school to learn how to do body work. After graduating and working in another shop for six or seven years I opened this shop. I've been at the same location since I started Long's Paint and Body Shop in 1983. This past August will be 30 years in business."

Longs Paint and Auto Body offers a full line of services - complete body work and paint jobs, spot repair, headliners, color matching and auto detailing.

"We area a family business. My wife does all the bookwork and also details cars. My two sons, Kenny and Klayton, do the paint and body work and I do the estimates. My two sons have been working in the business since they were both in high school," he said.

"My business relies on local people and northerners who come down for the winter," he said. "I think we've survived two, maybe three recessions because I always do what's right for our customers. We have customers that are older and unsure of how to navigate or to negotiate with their insurance. We make sure our customers get everything they are entitled to from their the insurance company"

Long's is located in the Industrial Park at 5180 Doug Taylor Circle, St. James City.